Average reading scale score, by age and selected student and school characteristics: Selected years, 1971 through 2004

Selected student and school characteristic

1971

1975

1980

1984

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1999

2004

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

9-year-olds, all students

208

(1.0)

210

(0.7)

215

(1.0)

211

(0.8)

212

(1.1)

209

(1.2)

211

(0.9)

211

(1.2)

212

(1.0)

212

(1.3)

219

(1.1)

Sex

Male

201

(1.1)

204

(0.8)

210

(1.1)

207

(1.0)

207

(1.4)

204

(1.7)

206

(1.3)

207

(1.3)

207

(1.4)

209

(1.6)

216

(1.4)

Female

214

(1.0)

216

(0.8)

220

(1.1)

214

(0.9)

216

(1.3)

215

(1.2)

215

(0.9)

215

(1.4)

218

(1.1)

215

(1.5)

221

(1.0)

Race/ethnicity

White

214

1

(0.9)

217

(0.7)

221

(0.8)

218

(0.9)

218

(1.4)

217

(1.3)

218

(1.0)

218

(1.3)

220

(1.2)

221

(1.6)

226

(1.1)

Black

170

1

(1.7)

181

(1.2)

189

(1.8)

186

(1.3)

189

(2.4)

182

(2.9)

185

(2.2)

185

(2.3)

191

(2.6)

186

(2.3)

200

(2.2)

Hispanic

[2]

(†)

183

(2.2)

190

(2.3)

187

(3.0)

194

(3.5)

189

(2.3)

192

(3.1)

186

(3.9)

195

(3.4)

193

(2.7)

205

(1.7)

Region

Northeast

213

(1.7)

215

(1.3)

221

(2.1)

216

(2.2)

215

(2.6)

217

(2.2)

218

(2.6)

217

(2.9)

220

(1.8)

222

(3.5)

223

(2.5)

Southeast

194

(2.9)

201

(1.2)

210

(2.3)

204

(2.0)

207

(2.1)

197

(3.2)

199

(2.0)

208

(3.0)

206

(2.8)

205

(2.3)

218

(1.8)

Central

215

(1.2)

215

(1.2)

217

(1.4)

215

(1.9)

218

(2.2)

213

(2.0)

216

(1.6)

214

(2.3)

215

(2.6)

215

(3.9)

221

(2.3)

West

205

(2.0)

207

(2.0)

213

(1.8)

209

(2.0)

208

(2.6)

210

(2.8)

209

(2.3)

205

(2.8)

210

(1.9)

206

(1.8)

215

(1.5)

13-year-old, all students

255

(0.9)

256

(0.8)

258

(0.9)

257

(0.6)

257

(1.0)

257

(0.8)

260

(1.2)

258

(0.9)

258

(1.0)

259

(1.0)

259

(1.0)

Sex

Male

250

(1.0)

250

(0.8)

254

(1.1)

253

(0.7)

252

(1.3)

251

(1.1)

254

(1.7)

251

(1.2)

251

(1.2)

254

(1.3)

254

(1.2)

Female

261

(0.9)

262

(0.9)

263

(0.9)

262

(0.7)

263

(1.0)

263

(1.1)

265

(1.2)

266

(1.2)

264

(1.2)

265

(1.2)

264

(1.3)

Race/ethnicity

White

261

1

(0.7)

262

(0.7)

264

(0.7)

263

(0.6)

261

(1.1)

262

(0.9)

266

(1.2)

265

(1.1)

266

(1.0)

267

(1.2)

266

(1.0)

Black

222

1

(1.2)

226

(1.2)

233

(1.5)

236

(1.2)

243

(2.4)

241

(2.2)

238

(2.3)

234

(2.4)

234

(2.6)

238

(2.4)

244

(2.0)

Hispanic

[2]

(†)

232

(3.0)

237

(2.0)

240

(2.0)

240

(3.5)

238

(2.3)

239

(3.5)

235

(1.9)

238

(2.9)

244

(2.9)

242

(1.6)

Parents' highest level of education

Not high school graduate

—

(†)

—

(†)

239

(1.1)

240

(1.2)

246

(2.1)

241

(1.8)

239

(2.6)

237

(2.4)

239

(2.8)

238

(3.4)

240

(2.7)

Graduated high school

—

(†)

—

(†)

253

(0.9)

253

(0.8)

253

(1.2)

251

(0.9)

252

(1.7)

251

(1.4)

251

(1.5)

251

(1.8)

251

(1.6)

Some education after high school

—

(†)

—

(†)

268

(1.0)

266

(1.1)

265

(1.7)

267

(1.7)

265

(2.7)

266

(1.9)

268

(2.3)

269

(2.4)

264

(2.0)

Graduated college

—

(†)

—

(†)

273

(0.9)

268

(0.9)

265

(1.6)

267

(1.1)

271

(1.5)

269

(1.2)

269

(1.4)

270

(1.2)

270

(1.0)

Region

Northeast

261

(2.0)

259

(1.8)

260

(1.8)

261

(0.8)

259

(2.4)

259

(1.8)

265

(3.2)

269

(2.0)

259

(2.6)

263

(2.9)

265

(1.9)

Southeast

245

(1.7)

249

(1.5)

253

(1.6)

256

(1.9)

258

(2.2)

256

(2.2)

254

(2.5)

253

(2.5)

251

(3.3)

254

(2.4)

257

(2.3)

Central

260

(1.8)

261

(1.4)

265

(1.4)

258

(1.3)

256

(2.0)

257

(1.5)

263

(3.0)

259

(3.3)

267

(1.8)

261

(1.9)

260

(2.1)

West

254

(1.3)

253

(1.7)

256

(2.0)

254

(1.1)

258

(2.1)

256

(1.6)

258

(1.6)

253

(2.1)

257

(1.7)

259

(2.2)

255

(1.6)

17-year-olds, all students

285

(1.2)

286

(0.8)

285

(1.2)

289

(0.8)

290

(1.0)

290

(1.1)

290

(1.1)

288

(1.3)

288

(1.1)

288

(1.3)

285

(1.2)

Sex

Male

279

(1.2)

280

(1.0)

282

(1.3)

284

(0.8)

286

(1.5)

284

(1.6)

284

(1.6)

282

(2.2)

281

(1.3)

281

(1.6)

278

(1.5)

Female

291

(1.3)

291

(1.0)

289

(1.2)

294

(0.9)

294

(1.5)

296

(1.2)

296

(1.1)

295

(1.5)

295

(1.2)

295

(1.4)

292

(1.3)

Race/ethnicity

White

291

1

(1.0)

293

(0.6)

293

(0.9)

295

(0.9)

295

(1.2)

297

(1.2)

297

(1.4)

296

(1.5)

295

(1.2)

295

(1.4)

293

(1.1)

Black

239

1

(1.7)

241

(2.0)

243

(1.8)

264

(1.2)

274

(2.4)

267

(2.3)

261

(2.1)

266

(3.9)

266

(2.7)

264

(1.7)

264

(2.7)

Hispanic

[2]

(†)

252

(3.6)

261

(2.7)

268

(2.9)

271

(4.3)

275

(3.6)

271

(3.7)

263

(4.9)

265

(4.1)

271

(3.9)

264

(2.9)

Parents' highest level of education

Not high school graduate

—

(†)

—

(†)

262

(1.5)

269

(1.4)

267

(2.0)

270

(2.8)

271

(3.9)

268

(2.7)

267

(3.2)

265

(3.6)

259

(3.4)

Graduated high school

—

(†)

—

(†)

277

(1.0)

281

(0.8)

282

(1.3)

283

(1.4)

280

(1.6)

276

(1.9)

273

(1.7)

274

(2.1)

274

(1.6)

Some education after high school

—

(†)

—

(†)

295

(1.2)

298

(0.9)

299

(2.2)

295

(1.9)

293

(1.9)

294

(1.6)

295

(2.2)

295

(1.8)

286

(1.9)

Graduated college

—

(†)

—

(†)

301

(1.0)

302

(0.9)

300

(1.4)

302

(1.5)

301

(1.7)

300

(1.7)

299

(1.5)

298

(1.3)

298

(1.3)

Region

Northeast

291

(2.8)

289

(1.7)

286

(2.4)

291

(2.5)

295

(2.9)

296

(1.8)

297

(3.2)

297

(4.2)

292

(2.8)

295

(4.0)

290

(2.5)

Southeast

271

(2.4)

277

(1.4)

280

(2.2)

284

(2.1)

286

(2.1)

285

(2.5)

278

(2.9)

283

(2.8)

279

(2.6)

279

(2.4)

281

(2.1)

Central

291

(2.1)

292

(1.4)

287

(2.2)

290

(1.8)

291

(1.9)

294

(2.4)

294

(2.1)

286

(3.7)

293

(2.1)

292

(1.5)

291

(2.2)

West

284

(1.8)

282

(1.9)

287

(2.1)

289

(1.6)

289

(1.8)

287

(2.6)

290

(2.3)

288

(2.8)

287

(2.4)

286

(3.0)

280

(2.5)

— Not available.
† Not applicable. 1 Data for 1971 include persons of Hispanic ethnicity. 2 Test scores of Hispanics were not tabulated separately.
NOTE: The NAEP reading scores have been evaluated at certain performance levels. Scale ranges from 0 to 500. Students scoring 150 (or higher) are able to follow brief written directions and carry out simple, discrete reading tasks. Students scoring 200 are able to understand, combine ideas, and make inferences based on short uncomplicated passages about specific or sequentially related information. Students scoring 250 are able to search for specific information, interrelate ideas, and make generalizations about literature, science, and social studies materials. Students scoring 300 are able to find, understand, summarize, and explain relatively complicated literary and informational material. Includes public and private schools. Excludes persons not enrolled in school and those who were unable to be tested due to limited proficiency in English or due to a disability. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity, except where noted. Some data have been revised from previously published figures. Standard errors appear in parentheses.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), NAEP 2004 Trends in Academic Progress; and NAEP Data Explorer (http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nde/), retrieved January 2006. (This table was prepared February 2006.)